ABC News (Australia): Linguists digitise 1970s children’s storybooks to help preserve Indigenous languages. “Few people involved in the Indigenous language storybook programs of the 1970s could have realised how precious the books would be decades later. During this time, bilingual education programs were rolled out in remote schools throughout the Northern Territory, allowing schoolchildren to read and write in their native languages before transitioning to reading and writing in English. Thousands of unique, entry-level children’s books, often based on local stories and illustrated by local artists, were created in Indigenous languages.”

Digital Trends: REI launches new search engine to help us #OptOutside on Black Friday. “…the retail giant will launch a new experiential search engine that is expected to go live on its website Thanksgiving weekend. A preview of this new tool is available now, but in a nutshell it will allow users to search for outdoor activities based on a specific location, type of activity, or a hashtag. The search feature is meant to inspire more people to get outdoors by collecting and displaying images from Instagram posts from anyone who uses the #OptOutside hashtag.”

Consumer Financial Protection Bureau: CFPB Launches New Mortgage Performance Trends Tool for Tracking Delinquency Rates. “The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) today announced the launch of a new Mortgage Performance Trends tool that tracks delinquency rates nationwide. Information newly available through this tool shows that mortgage delinquency rates nationally are at their lowest point since the financial crisis. In addition to national data, the online tool features interactive charts and graphs with data on mortgage delinquency rates for 50 states and the District of Columbia at the county and metro-area level.”

TWEAKS AND UPDATES

The Verge: WhatsApp now lets you delete and revoke messages you sent by mistake. “WhatsApp is adding the ability to delete and revoke messages after you’ve sent them, following a test of the feature for most of 2017. You’ll be able to delete messages up to seven minutes after you sent them, and they’ll disappear from conversations or group chats. A new WhatsApp support article, spotted by The Next Web, reveals that both sender and receiver will need the latest WhatsApp for this feature to work. The feature is rolling out gradually to WhatsApp users this week.”

MakeUseOf: 5 New Productive Gmail Apps and Extensions You Should Try. “Gmail is the email service of choice for most of the world. Google has done an excellent job with it. But that doesn’t mean it couldn’t be better. With the right apps and extensions, you can be more productive in your Gmail inbox. You can turn it into an Instagram-like feed to quickly skim through your inbox. A ‘Do Not Disturb’ setting will ensure new message notifications don’t break your concentration. There’s something for everyone here. But of course, none of these can replace the tips and tricks to become a Gmail power user. Master those first, and then move on to these other tools.” I had not heard of any of these extensions.

TechCrunch: Apollo for iOS is the only Reddit app you need. “Former Apple intern Christian Selig says he wasn’t happy with the selection of iOS apps for browsing Reddit, so he decided to build his own. The developer this week launched his own Reddit client called Apollo, which offers a beautifully designed browsing experience for either iPhone or iPad, as well as customizable gestures, a media viewer, a full Markdown writing editor and other features inspired by Reddit user feedback.”

USA Today: Homework help: Skip the in-person tutor with online courses, which we rate . “All jokes about ‘new math’ aside — have you tried to help your kids with their homework lately? A growing number of online, on-demand tutoring services might just be your saving grace. The K–12 online tutoring market will grow to nearly $121 billion by 2021 from around $64 billion in 2016, according to market researcher Technavio. One of the biggest reasons? The on-demand aspect tackles an immediate need, in a way that resonates with today’s tech-savvy students.”

AROUND THE SEARCH AND SOCIAL MEDIA WORLD

Press Democrat: Hewlett-Packard historical archives destroyed in Santa Rosa fires. “When deadly flames incinerated hundreds of homes in Santa Rosa’s Fountaingrove neighborhood earlier this month, they also destroyed irreplaceable papers and correspondence held nearby and once belonging to the founders of Silicon Valley’s first technology company, Hewlett-Packard. The Tubbs fire consumed the collected archives of William Hewlett and David Packard, the tech pioneers who in 1938 formed an electronics company in a Palo Alto garage with $538 in cash.”

The Register: Fresh bit o’ Linux to spruce up that ancient Windows Vista box? Why not, we say… . “The Linux OS is flexible. If one Linux distro is an unfriendly fit, you can replace it with another one that has a more appealing options list on the desktop environment or user interface front. Debian-based Q4OS, developed by a team of software designers in Germany, has a lightweight design that allows it to run on nearly any hardware config. I have run it on ageing computers from the early days of Windows Vista.”

Bloomberg: Tencent-Backed Sogou Aims for Up to $585 Million in U.S. IPO. “Sogou Inc., the Chinese search engine backed by Tencent Holdings Ltd., aims to raise as much as $585 million in a U.S. initial public offering. The company, born from the Chinese media company Sohu.com Inc., is marketing 45 million American depositary shares for $11 to $13 apiece, according to a filing Friday with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Sogou said it intends to use the proceeds for research and development and sales and marketing.”

RESEARCH & OPINION

Phys.org: Small words in an email can reveal a person’s identity . “It’s possible to identify the author of an email by analysing as little as two words, research by Nottingham Trent University suggests. Dr David Wright, an expert in forensic linguistics, examined thousands of emails to show it’s possible to identify someone by analysing small sequences of words and prove them as the author. The research aims to address the challenges experts face when analysing language evidence in court proceedings or in reports.” Good morning, Internet…

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